In a fairy-tale land, Princess Adrienne finds herself locked in a tower guarded by a dragon, just like her sisters. It's a tradition, after all,
ensuring that only the worthiest, bravest suitors claim a royal bride. Adrienne, however, isn't the sort of princess to wait for rescue...
This issue includes the short bonus tale "Mr. Froggy," about the life of a reluctant princeling.
Review
With shades of Shrek and Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, this clever send-up of fairy tale tropes is hilarious
from start to finish. Adrienne's an outspoken, pro-active heroine, a dark-skinned counterpoint to the "fair maiden" stereotype. The story arc gets
off to a good start, with shades of trouble on the horizon for the idealistic princess. The short story adds a male perspective, showing that the boys
don't have it much easier than the girls when it comes to family expectations in a fairy tale world. To be honest, I'd hoped for more than just four
issues; it's a fun and fast tale, yet it still feels like it's just getting started, as Adrienne picks up her first allies and enemies - not to mention
her first official suit of armor (that hasn't been scavenged from corpses outside her tower, that is.) Numerous tropes get poked at, from fairy tales to
fantasy to video games and more, yet the storyline and characters still maintain their integrity. I suppose I'll have to read the next issues, or spring
for Volume 2, now - I can't leave things hanging as they are.
Princess Adrienne, her loyal guardian dragon Sparky, and their new sidekick, the half-dwarf smith girl Belinda, set out on their first official
rescue mission. Adrienne's sister Angelica is their first stop. Always the most beautiful in the family, surely she'll be grateful for Adrienne's
intervention. But the plucky princess finds a few surprises on the way to the tower that she never imagined.
Meanwhile, Adrienne's father Ashe is determined to destroy the "dragon knight" whom he believes killed his daughter. He summons the seven bravest,
boldest, and most eligible bachelor knights in the land: whoever succeeds will get the hand of the princess of their choosing. But King Ashe soon
has a fresh problem on his hands, and a possible betrayal from his oldest and most trusted friend.
Review
The story of Adrienne, the princess who rescued herself, continues, with new subplots sprouting as more people become affected by her decisions.
In this, her first true test of heroism and her first taste of the real world beyond her castle home and tower exile, she finds that reality doesn't
always fit her expectations. Not everyone appreciates her efforts - least of all Angelica, who has turned her good looks into a cottage industry. Is
she selling out to beauty standards and sexism, or is she using her gifts to empower herself... and does she really need rescuing, or will Adrienne's
efforts destroy everything? The would-be heroine has a lot of growing up to do, as sheer indignation and a quick sword aren't always the best answer
to every situation. Meanwhile, the knights promise future complications, as do the actions of Adrienne's mother and father.
On a technical level, a new artist takes over in these issues, doing a decent job maintaining the feel of the characters. The layout, though,
sometimes gets confusing, as it cuts back and forth between various storylines a little too often. On the whole, it's still very enjoyable, and I
still look forward to Volume 3.
The would-be hero Princess Adrienne is en route to rescue one of her sisters when she and her companions, dragon Sparky and half-dwarf smith
Bedelia, happen upon another girl locked in a tower. It isn't until after the rescue that they learn she's Raven Xingtao, daughter of Pirate King,
long-time enemy of Adrienne's father Ashe and other nobles of the land. The princess's crusade takes an unexpected detour when Raven "borrows"
Sparky for a personal project: tracking down the brothers who imprisoned her and usurped her rightful place as the Pirate King's heir.
This volume contains all four issues of the Pirate Princess sequence.
Review
Raven stars in her own spin-off series after this adventure - and it's quite clear from the outset that she's being set up for her own stories.
Indeed, she fairly bowls over most of the cast - even Adrienne - for a good portion of the book. It doesn't help that the new artists lean toward
the pink end of the color palette. The hero princess still has a lot to learn about her chosen career, not to mention letting her anger and impulses
get her into situations she can't easily get back out of. Raven, on the other hand, knows just what she's doing, merely lacking the means to obtain
her goal... at least, until a helpful rescuer introduces her to a malleable lady dragon. After a bit of an uneven start, the tale wraps up in fine
form, with a preview that tempts me to explore Raven's standalone adventures. It's more of a detour than a continuation of the Princeless story, but
a reasonably entertaining one. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adrienne's quest in Volume Four, though.
With Raven back on the seas on her own quest, Princess Adrienne and her sidekicks head to the swamps to rescue Adrienne's middle sister, Angoisse. She
was always the broody one, pining for boys she couldn't have and joy she'd never feel for the perpetual gloom of her soul... a real ball of sunshine and
roses. But even as Adrienne and company fight their way through beasts and goblins and Sparky's patented crash-landings, Angoisse may have finally found
the man of her dreams - if he's truly a man, and not a nightmare...
Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to make a "proper" man and future ruler out of his only son, King Ashe brings Devin to the place where the queen's
carriage was ambushed by the possible-traitor Black Knight; maybe the anger will put some fire in the weak child's guts. But Devin doesn't think the
evidence points to murder. The boy determines to set off on his own quest to find his mother - along with some unwanted help, the wolf-girl Kira.
Review
With Volume 3 devoted to launching Raven's spinoff, I enjoyed getting back to Adrienne's quest. A hilarious, heart-filled adventure awaits in the swamps,
as they cross paths with goblins and deal with swampland politics, with more surprises and snicker-worthy moments awaiting at Angoisse's tower. The dragon
Sparky even gets a turn as heroine, loaned out to help the locals deal with a troublesome monster. As before, Adrienne's direct method of heroism isn't
always the most effective, but she's learning, as are those around her. Back home, Devin finally gets a chance to come into his own. The new illustrators
are nice, without the odd pink fetish from the previous issue. I'm looking forward to future installments.
This collection of short stories explores various characters from the Princeless comic series. Included are: The Thing in the Dungeon - Young Adrienne and Devin find something strange in the castle dungeon. The Merry Adventures of Young Prince Ash - The boy who would be king undertakes a bet to race through the beast- and elf-filled
forest. The Runaway Prince and The Girl with the Giveaway Ears - Thrown into the dungeon for failing to
rescue Princess Adrienne, Prince Wilcome makes a new ally who may be more trouble than she's worth. The Smiths - The history of Adrienne's half-dwarven sidekick Bedelia. The Princess's New Clothes - After being "rescued" by Adrienne, the vain Princess Angelica wonders if she could do more with her
life than simply look gorgeous. Nightlight - Melancholy Princess Angoisse, abandoned in a tower in the middle of the swamps, meets a dashing young man with
peculiar habits. Waiting - The waitress Aisha seizes an opportunity when a pair of adventurers and the fugitives they seek arrive at her restaurant
simultaneously. Kira's First Hunt - The wolf-girl Kira participates in a pack initiation rite that takes an unexpectedly dangerous turn. Girls Who Fight Boys - Adrienne and Bedilia rescue Raven from under righteous Sir Zachary's nose. (Previous reviewed as part of
Princeless: Get Over Yourself).
Review
Yes, I know it's been a rather Princeless-heavy review streak this month. I had a Barnes & Noble coupon to burn off... this is the
last for a while, I swear. Anyway, this collection is a mixed bag. Some are interesting and fun, foreshadowing future developments in the series. A
couple hint at possible spinoffs. But others seem oddly pointless, with little of the wit that makes the Princeless series so enjoyable. The
changing artists also made it a little hard to track who was who, particularly in The Girl with the Giveaway Ears, and several of the wolves
in Kira's tale were difficult to tell apart. Some images were tough to decipher for being so dark, as well. Overall, it's not bad, worth reading if
you're following the series.
Princess Adrienne's quest to rescue the rest of her sisters takes her to the frozen mountains of the dwarves... an awkward homecoming for her
sidekick, the half-dwarf girl Belinda. As Adrienne prepares for another fight, this time for the twins (locked up in twin towers in the mountains),
she still struggles to find her own freedom, old attitudes and insecurities gnawing at her. Meanwhile, Belinda learns that her human mother, who
ran out on the family after one too many drunken blows from her father, has not only visited the dwarves, but taken a job with the nearby monster
farm - where Sparky the dragon was raised and trained.
Elsewhere in the land, young Prince Devin and his reluctant wolf-girl companion Kira have a fateful run-in with the escaped Prince Wilcome and his
elven sort-of-friend/fellow dungeon escapee Tempest. While hereditary enemies Kira and Tempest spar, the foursome join forces to track down the
missing queen - but something very much wants to keep them from succeeding...
Review
This volume lost a half-star on two counts - one for stretching, another for advertisements. The latter I can't blame on the story itself, though
I found it very distracting to have multiple full-page ads tripping me up between segments. (Eleven ads, in one grueling stretch. I appreciate that
advertising is necessary, and the comic/graphic novel industry is no exception, but really - eleven in a row? They couldn't have been broken up a bit?)
The former issue of stretching, however, definitely infringed on my enjoyment. Some introspection by Adrienne is inevitable, as her journey helps her
grow up, but at some point her tangents and conversations on the matter cross a line from relevant and intriguing to plot filler and outright stalling.
Likewise, Belinda's subplot - dealing with anger over her runaway mother - clutters the pages... as do her many dwarven relatives, who were often hard
to tell apart. Sparky's quest to find her roots inches forward, but all the padding knocks a reunion and revelation into Part 2... like Adrienne's
rescue mission. (Cut a few of the ads, and maybe it wouldn't have needed a second volume to finish... but I digress.)
As for Prince Devin's story, I wasn't fond of Prince Wilcome in his last adventure (part of the Princeless short story compilation volume, reviewed
previously), and I'm not much more interested in him now that he's been added as a regular; he comes across as too shallow and one-dimensional compared
to the rest of the cast. I'm also not sure about Tempest. The whole quest to rescue the queen itself feels like plot stretching; any reader paying any
bit of attention knows what happened, if not details of why, and the longer it drags out, the more tedious it grows.
The cast and storylines feel bloated, dragging out for the sake of dragging out, or maybe for ad sales given the concentration. (Eleven in a row... still
can't get over that. I counted twice to be sure.) I expect I'll read the second part for some closure, but if the tale keeps distracting itself and
meandering into tangents of minimal progression, I might call it a wrap on this series. It's still fun, but not as fun as it used to be.
Princess Adrienne's quest to free her sisters has taken her to the Rim, the frigid northern mountains of the dwarves... original home of Sparky, her
guardian dragon turned faithful companion. While her friend Bedelia confronts her human mother, who ran away and left her with a drunken dwarf smith
father in human lands, Adrienne and a dwarven guide seek out the twin towers of her twin sisters, Andrea and Antonia - who haven't let their captivity
get in the way of their lifelong feud.
Review
The previous Princeless installment suffered under excess weight, particularly in the subplot about Prince Devin. I told myself that if this
book felt similarly stretched, I'd give up on the series. Fortunately, this volume gets the story back on track, bringing back the humor, action, and
character depth that made Adrienne's previous adventures so fun. It does this, in part, by ditching Devin's overloaded, overslow storyline altogether.
Bedelia finally gets the reconciliation (and recognition) she wanted, while Adrienne must test her mettle against a pair of ruthless bounty hunters (and
her patience against her sisters.) The dragon Sparky, too, finally gets a homecoming and a meeting with her own lost mother - but it does not go quite as
planned, endangering everyone's reunions. An enjoyable return to form, and one that has me eager for the next volume - and hoping Whitley plans to wrap
the tale up soon. (Volume 5's unnecessary padding has left definite stretch marks on the overall plot...)
Princess Adrienne and her pink guardian dragon Sparky have been together since the start of their adventures... but, searching the desert for the
tower of Princess Alize, and sorely missing their half-dwarf companion Bedelia, tempers flare and ways part. When Adrienne finally reaches the tower,
she discovers wonders she never imagined, questions she never asked - and, at long last, a final confrontation with the mysterious Black Knight who
has long haunted her footsteps.
Meanwhile, still tracking the missing queen, Princes Devin and Wilcome, the elf girl Tempest, and the wolf warrior Kira seek answers of their own,
but find instead a burning village and a threat to all of Asheland. Even if they find a way to warn King Ashe, it may already be too late...
Review
After the sag of Volume 5, the Princeless series has managed to stay on track for two installments now, with plot and characters both
progressing nicely. Without Bedelia, Adrienne must cope on her own, and doesn't do a great job of it at first; her frustration boils over and drives
away poor Sparky. Still, the lessons she's learned over the series are adding up, and if she's still somewhat impulsive, she is thinking more than
she used to. Skirting spoilers (that aren't really spoilers if one's been following along), the "mystery" of the Black Knight's identity is finally
disposed of, along with a good chunk of explanatory backstory: a welcome development, as there was only so long that could be drawn out after
tipping the hand to the reader some time ago. How Adrienne reacts to this revelation, on top of what she learns at Alize's tower (where her sister is
not the captive Adrienne imagined her to be), shows how far she still has to go in her personal journey.
From the looks of things, Volume 8 takes another plot break for backstory and side tales. I rather hope that Volume 9 (or, at most 10) brings things to
a conclusion; as much as I'm enjoying the series (while it stays on track, at least), I'd rather it go out on a strong note rather than be strung out
indefinitely.
The Princeless series, Volume 8 Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Jackie Crofts, Newt Taber, Takeia Marie, Robin Kaplan, Kaitlin Jann, Brett Grunig, and Emily Martin Action Lab Entertainment Fiction, MG? Collection/Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Humor Themes: Diversity, Epics, Faeries and Kin, Fairy Tales, Fantasy Races, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Twists, Vampires ***+
Description
Since escaping her tower with her guardian dragon Sparky, Princess Adrienne has quested to free her sisters from their own towers... but they'd
all been expecting to go from prisoner to prize/bride. Now, they have to decide what to do with their freedom, even as a greater war looms on the
horizon.
Review
The trope-challenging Princeless series has shown some stretch marks, but the previous volume picked up the pace some, so I looked forward
to seeing where it was going. This collection, sadly, represents another backslide. Whitley seems to be dithering and fluffing to stretch things out
at this point, and even though these adventures all ultimately tie into the greater series, I didn't think the stories needed their own volume. Two
of them don't really go anywhere, and one is a story we already knew. The humor also feels spotty. If this had come earlier in the series, I
probably would've just walked away, but since it seems there are only one or two volumes left I'll probably stick it out to the end.
Enemy armies are closing in, and time is running out. As her mother and sisters prepare for the coming battle, Princess Adrienne must rescue her last
sister, Appalonia... but the Minotaur that holds her imprisoned is not like the other guardians. They were merely doing their jobs; this Minotaur is an
agent of evil. And before she can face the beast, Adrienne must confront one last challenge: her father, King Ashe.
Meanwhile, Prince Devin and his companions come at last to the kingdom of the elves, seeking help for the exiled princess Kira - but some on the Elven
high council would just as soon not see the royals returned to power.
Review
The penultimate volume (from what I gather) gets the story back on track and ratcheting up nicely. Adrienne finally gets back to rescuing, and also
has a long-delayed confrontation with her father - a fight where she proves just how much she's learned over her adventures. For some reason, I expected
more of a conflict here; the resolution to this subplot seems a bit neat and easy, considering that Ashe has spent his entire life minimizing women and
reducing his daughters to prizes for young princes to win. Appalonia has embraced the role of fairy tale princess in all of its cliches, and - like her
other sisters - seems a little unsure of what to do with a sister who rejects that role and interferes with her "happily ever after" story. On Devin's
end, Kira turns out to have one more secret to reveal, even as she and the others face down assassins and other obstacles among the elves. By the end,
the last pieces are falling into place before the (presumed) finale. It's an enjoyable outing, with a return to some of the humor, though the series as
a whole is more than ready to wrap at this point.
As a closing note, I have not heard any word of the promised tenth and final volume since 2020. While I'm still hopeful it's on its way, I can't say I'm
holding my breath at this point.
